Word Origin & History

bilbo "kind of sword noted for temper and elasticity," 1590s, from Bilbao, town in northern Spain where swords were made, in English Bilboa. The town name is Roman Bellum Vadum "beautiful ford" (over the Nervion River).

Example Sentences for bilbo

The fool came at me, bilbo in hand, and I was forced to draw.'

He can't hurt you—he has broken his bilbo across—the symbol of gentility.

Some of them belonged to the crowd who opposed Bilbo Grundy's fabulous invention.

That was the one basic mistake that we, and everyone else, made when we discussed the Bilbo Grundy Projector.

The real thing—not the Bilbo Grundy toy, but real physical time travel.

I have brought you a couple of dictionaries; let us see if your highness can find out the Latin for bilbo.

The French marine still use a kind of leg-iron of the bilbo type.

I was knocked senseless in the fight, after I had put my bilbo through your comely brother.

When we made our last share-crop, father farmed on Senator Bilbo's mother's farm on the State line.